Harbour towage firm invests £4m in Belfast operations

EAST YORKSHIRE firm SMS Towage has invested a further £4m in its Belfast operations.

The harbour towage firm has taken delivery of another tug for their site there,bringing its total investment in the Irish city to £9m.

New order the ASD Merchantman is sister tug to the ASD Masterman, which launched in the city in 2013, after the firm had identified potential for offshore wind logistics facilities and a purpose-built cruise terminal.

SMS Towage has a 25% stake in Belfast Towage, where it employs five skippers and five crew, which was 14 tugs in its fleet

“This is a significant level of investment, and shows our commitment and confidence in the growing level of activity we are experiencing in Belfast,” said Gareth Escreet of SMS Towage.

“When we went in there, the major users of tugs within Belfast Harbour wanted a focus on quality, with modern, new built, reliable tugs and the minimum of potential technical problems,” added Mr Escreet.

“The port is doing what we expected it to do, in terms of the level of trade and the reliability of our tugs.”

“This allows us to leverage the fleet advantages of commonality of training, and vessel familiarisation,” he said, “and means it is justifiable cost wise to maintain a large stock of critical spare parts for engines, generators, thrusters on the shelf.”

SMS Towage was established in 2003 and now employs 130 with its headquarters at Livingstone Road, Hessle, East Yorkshire.